LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



PRESENTED BY 

UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 






; 0ttrage§tts SfpiffMitess, 



COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 



TWENTIETH 

PASTORAL ANNIVERSARY, 

JULY 4, 1869, 

ST. PAUL'S LUTHEKAN CHURCH, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 




TLER 



WASHINGTON, D. C. : 

JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS. 

1869. 




CORRESPONDENCE. 



Washington, July 5, 1869. 

Rev. J. Geo. Butler, D. D., 

Dear Sir : The undersigned, constituting the Vestry of St. Paul's 
English Lutheran Church of this city, agreeably to the request 
made by the congregation at the close of your discourse, delivered 
on the twentieth anniversary of your Pastorate, Sunday, July 4, 
respectfully ask a copy of the same for publication. In thus com- 
plying with the expressed wish of the congregation, allow us to say 
that we fully and heartily endorse the truths and principles enun- 
ciated in your sermon, and believe its publication will tend not only 

hole church m 
A. S. Pratt, 

ANDKEW ISOERR, 

Geo. Eyneal, Jr., 

J. H. KUEHElNG, 

S. E. Thomason. 



To A. S. Pratt, Esq., and others, 

Vestry St. Paul's Church, 

Brethren: I have endeavored to reproduce the anniversary 
discourse, and am glad to place the manuscript at your disposal — 
ever happy to gratify a devoted people, to whom in the future as in 
the past, if the will of God be so, I hope, and more earnestly, to con- 
secrate my life. 

Appreciating your personal and official love and co-operation in 
doing the work of the Master, 

I am, in the best of bonds, 

Your Pastor, 

J. Geo. Buteer. 

St. Paul's Parsonage, July 9, 1869. 



SERMON. 



Scripture JLrssons.— Acts 20: 17-35; 1 Cor. 1: 17-31, and 2: 1-5. 



An incident in the life of the great Apostle suggests our 
anniversary thought. When a prisoner for Christ, on his way 
to Caesar's court, at Appii Forum, the brethren from Rome met 
him, Luke says, (Acts 28: 15,) he thanked God and took courage. 
Past deliverances and present blessings inspired thankfulness, 
whilst courageously he looked into the future — his Heaven- 
appointed mission not yet accomplished. 

Reviewing a pastorate of twenty years — my entire public 
ministry — in the presence of the brethren, have we reason to 
thank God, and may we courageously address ourselves to the 
work yet before usf Has God sanctioned this relation? Is the 
path of duty plain ? Does He inspire the courage necessary 
I for the trying and blessed responsibilities of the future ? 

We are to study life — our individual life — our life as a 
church, in their relation to the Gospel and the coming kingdom 
of Jesus. The Gospel is God's remedial plan. It has appli- 
cation to man's body as well as his soul, reaching every relation 
in life — God's reconstruction of a world wrecked and ruined 



COURAGEOUS THANK FULNESS. 



by sin. You and I attain the great mission of life only as we 
glorify God in our body and spirit, only as we witness for Jesus 
and further the kingdom that shall never be moved. How 
much prodigal, wasted life all around us! 

" We live in deeds, not years — in thoughts, not breath ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial ; — 
We should count time by heartthrobs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

It is not my purpose to tell you how many sermons I have 
preached ; how many services rendered ; how many missions 
planted ; how much money collected for the furtherance of the 
Gospel. These are only means to an end. The general may 
enlist and equip an immense army; he may astonish the world 
by his grand reviews, but when an enemy is to be subdued and 
the life of a Government saved, we want to know of hotly-con- 
tested fields, of achievements, and onward progress toward final 
triumph. Has God used us to further the cause of truth and 
righteousness in this Capital of the nation? Is this one of the 
golden candlesticks, shedding its heavenly light upon this thick 
darkness ? Is He who holds the stars in His right hand in our 
midst, owning our agency in the great battle for truth and 
souls? 

AVe are reminded, in this review, beloved, that our future 
may be brief. The fathers, where are they ? Of those in the 
communion of this church twenty years ago, not a half dozen 
will meet us to-day at the table of the Lord. The w r orkman 
dies, but the work goes on. " Blessed are the dead who die in 
the Lord, for they rest from their labors and their works do 
follow them." And, oh ! how many during all these years 
have rejected Jesus, and hardened themselves in unbelief and 
worldliness ! Whilst many have gone from the worship of this 



COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 



sanctuary to mingle their praises with the blood-washed, are 
there none who hopelessly gnash their teeth as they remember 
a rejected Saviour! He that believeth not shall be damned. 

Nor should we suffer ourselves to be discouraged in the work 
of the Lord, though we see not at once the abundant fruit of 
our labor. This is a work of faith ; one soweth and another 
reapeth. The artist and sculptor paint and chisel for immor- 
tality. The works of the old masters remain, and they live 
upon the canvas and in the marble. If the growing centuries 
add lustre to the memory and glory to the work of the 
Martyr, the Reformer, and the Apostle, though the green 
sward soon rest upon our bosom, God honors present faithful- 
ness, and coming generations shall call us blessed. We may 
have passed away ere millennial glory shall bless the world ; yet 
the man who is true to truth, to self, to Christ, is God's co- 
worker, and with the Lord a thousand years are as one day. 
His reconstructing work is going forward, and the humblest 
disciple, loyal to manhood, to freedom, to Christ, shall celebrate 
the glory of Satan's overthrow, and join the coronation of 
Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

" The lives of good men all remind us, 
We may make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time." 

When Paul, amid the idolatry and wealth and refinement of 
commercial Corinth, preached Jesus, at the cost of persecution, 
the Lord in vision stood by him to dissipate his fear and nerve 
his heart, because He had much people in that city. Our mis- 
sion is to save the Lord's people in this city. What masses are 
yet unsaved ! The gospel only can save them. It is not my 
mission only. You — 'each of you has a message. The Lord 



8 COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 

sends you to lead and save souls — a little child it may be, from 
the soul-destroying influences of a prayerless and Christless 
home, to the Sabbath school, to the sanctuary, to the cross of 
Jesus. Did we but feel our individual responsibility, what 
might we not accomplish for the Master amid the corrupting 
influences of this great, growing Metropolis. Whatever our dis- 
couragements, the Lord bids us not be afraid as we go into 
the streets and lanes —not to Avao'e war against others of the 
Lord's sacramental host, but against, sin, the world, and the 
devil. 

Has the Lord called us to this work ? Does He stand by us, 
give us His seal, inspire us with the faith and courage needed 
for the work? Surely I, as an individual, have reason to 
thank Him that He has graciously spared me during all these 
years to testify for Jesus. Twenty years filled with responsi- 
bility and labor and pastoral care ! How shall I meet these 
privileges and opportunities — all these souls in the judgment? 
God be merciful to me a sinner! 

You who have been graciously called and kept as laborers ; 
kept, amid temptations and the defections of some, honoring the 
Saviour, in your holy living, you, too, have reason for courage- 
ous thankfulness ! We, as laborers together, have cause to 
thank Him that the church has not died. It had well nigh died. 
The indifference of some, the opposition and slander of others, 
would have destroyed it, but the gates of hell have not pre- 
vailed. There are not a few who have assumed a fearful respon- 
sibility in turning away from this pulpit, by reason of its loyalty 
to truth, to freedom, to the great principles of this Holy Word, 
the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The preaching of 
the cross, and the labors of God's servants here have not been 
in vain in the Lord. The church lives in vigor and fruitful- 



COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 



n ess. Our growth has been steady and healthy. Like the 
Banyan, we have thrown here and there our branches, upon 
which God is smiling. We who were not a people have be- 
come a people, honored of men, acknowledged of God. We 
thank Him and take courage. 

Christian labor is not to be estimated by apparent results. 
From this great centre, especially, influences are radiating to all 
parts of our land. Probably in all parts of the world, where 
Christ is named, are those who have heard the Gospel from this 
pulpit. Eternity alone will reveal the saving influences — the 
hidden fountains of Divine blessing flowing through the ordi- 
nances and labors of this Church of Christ. 

If we ask why this church has grown, and why it has not 
grown more rapidly, I reply, paradoxical as it may appear, the 
preaching of the whole Gospel has, under God, been blest to our 
increase in numbers, in knowledge, and in grace, I trust, whilst 
at the same time it has caused others to turn away from this 
house of God. A sectional Gospel might have been acceptable 
to men. A Gospel of justice and equity and righteousness be- 
tween man and man — the whole counsel of God — which I have 
not shunned to declare, has been my great sin in this commu- 
nity, and a sin yet remembered. You and I have long enough 
breathed this atmosphere to know something of the virus which 
exhales from that monster evil hitherto so potent, spreading its 
deadly influence through the whole land. During these twenty 
years I have come to a fuller understanding of that great truth 
with which I entered this pulpit, determined to know nothing 
among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Gospel 
is much more than the simple offer of pardon to sinning men 
through the cross of Christ. It is the world's regenerator. It 
is the wisdom and powder of God, the light, the fire, the ax, the 



10 COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 

sword, as well as the balm — the water, the cleansing blood. It 
is Heaven's panacea for a world's sorrow. It applies to every 
relation of life — domestic, social, civil, and ecclesiastical. It 
tests opinions, customs, laws, and constitutions. It respects 
only truth and right, whilst it offers and secures the highest 
well-being of man — in the Divine glory. The ax, here, has 
been laid to the root of the tree. The influence of this pulpit, 
feeble it may be, has been thrown on the side of right. We 
have endeavored to look at man as man — from the hand of the 
same Creator, redeemed by the same Redeemer, sanctified by 
the same Holy Spirit, rising above all nationality, recognizing 
the great brotherhood ; knowing no restrictions but such as the 
Bible prescribes. Men have regarded me their enemy because 
I have told them the truth. With no asperity, in all patience, 
I have endeavored meekly to instruct those who oppose them- 
selves, spending and being spent — though the more I love the 
less I am loved. 

During all these trying years, amid great discouragement, I 
have stood firmly, under the consciousness that we are upon the 
frontier, fighting the battles of freedom — the freedom where- 
with Christ makes free. No merely local importance attaches 
to this position. We stand here near the nation's heart, and 
the influence of the pulpit of this city is felt everywhere through- 
out the land and through the world. The hope of the Gov- 
ernment is in the Gospel ; the Gospel that enlightens and lib- 
erates and restrains and sanctifies and saves. And the senti- 
ment of the nation, so long dwarfed and distorted by legalized 
bondage, cannot be purified save by the diffusion of the whole 
Gospel. 

Xor have you had a denominational Gospel from this pulpit. 
Representing the largest Protestant denomination in the world, 



COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 11 

we are comparatively unknown in this city. Though our his- 
tory runs back to the great Reformation of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and comes down to us freighted with the triumphs of 
precious faith, we are yet scarcely a quarter of a century old in 
our national capital. Indeed we can scarcely trace our history 
back farther than twenty years, and we call you to witness that, 
during all these years, we have exalted only Christ. We rep- 
resent the Evangelical Lutheran Church, our platform broad as 
the Gospel — fellowshipping all who hold Christ the living 
head — making no conditions of communion or salvation, save 
faith in our Lord Jesns — ourselves but one division of the 
grand army, doing battle only against the enemies of our glori- 
ous Leader and King. 

In common with all friends of Jesus, we rejoice in the prog- 
ress of union among the churches. It is time that we should 
be removing the dividing lines — that w T e should not only recog- 
nize each other as parts of the one great church, of which Jesus 
is the head — but also seek greater organic union. The ques- 
tions that gender strife and do not minister to godly edifying 
should be put away in every man's own conscience, and where- 
unto we have attained, we should walk by the same rule, study- 
ing the things that make for peace, wherewith we may edify one 
another. But never, beloved, will the prayer of the Great 
Intercessor that they all may be one be fulfilled until w r e rise to 
broad evangelical principles. Upon the tenets of sects all can 
never be one. With diversities among ourselves, we yet have 
agreement and life and vigor, holding in essentials unity, allow- 
ing in non-essentials liberty, and cherishing in all things 
charity. 

This, my brethren, is the broad basis upon which we stand as 
a church, and this is the Scriptural basis of historic Lutheran- 



12 



COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 



ism. Upon no other could I, as your pastor, stand — testing all 
creeds and confessions and opinions and usages by the word of 
God — claiming for myself, and according to all the friends of 
Jesus, that fullness of freedom which the Scriptures warrant. 

Truth in love has been the simple policy of this pulpit during 
all these years — truth, as opposed to falsehood and insincerity 
and guile; for God requires truth in the inward parts, and 
every liar shall have his portion in the lake that burneth with 
fire and brimstone. The Christian must be a transparent man. 
Truth, as opposed to error, testing all religions, though vene- 
rable with the centuries, by the teachings of Him who is the 
Truth! Truth uttered, not suppressed; boldly preached, not 
slurred ; defended, not compromised — for we are set for the 
defence of the Gospel. Truth, not in wrath, but in all the 
tenderness of love — love for the truth and love for the sinner, 
who can be saved only by the truth. 

This pulpit claims to be a positive pulpit — of its own opinions 
diffident and distrustful, itself the servant of all, but in teach- 
ing God's word bold, authoritative, uncompromising — watch- 
ing for souls in view of the final account. 

Under influences like these, beloved, we are what we are 
as a people — ever endeavoring to commend ourselves to every 
man's conscience in the sight of God. 

There is a future for us. How long you and I may be actors 
in the drama, God only knows. We may soon — 

" Lay these painful heads 
And aching hearts beneath the soil ; 
May slumber in that dreamless bed 
From all our toil." 

"I must work while it is day," says the Great Worker, and 
our sun has not yet gone down. We cannot pray until we 



COUEAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 13 

work. If God is to bless the labor of our hands our hands 
must labor. Prayer without work is mockery. The Lord has 
much people in this city. It' is ours to offer them the Gospel, 
it is God's to save them. Souls are to be gathered; the Gospel 
is to be sustained ; our Missions are to be fostered ; our ^Memo- 
rial is to be built; and no matter what the industry or faith of 
a pastor, unsustained by his people, he will sink. As well ex- 
pect the general alone to execute his well-planned campaigns as 
a minister of Christ, without the prayerful and helpful sympa- 
thy of his people, to carry forward the Lord's work. The indo- 
lent, the censorious, the covetous, and the self-seeking are not 
helpers. You, feeling your individual responsibility and meet- 
ing it every day, will make this church a mighty power in the 
hand of God. 

When David with earnest love devoted himself to the 
building of the Temple, he assembled the princes and all the 
people, and asked who h willing to consecrate his service this 
clay unto the Lord? The Lord calls for service, not for prom- 
ises nor professions ! God is not mocked. The I go sirs, 
who go not, cannot deceive Him, though they deceive their 
own souls to ruin. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he 
also reap. The Lord has need of your service — your muscle 
and your brain — your gold and your labor — your tongue and 
your pen — your ten talents or your one. There is some niche 



*Your money and prayers are asked in behalf of the Memorial 
Church — a memorial of God's goodness in sparing the life of the na- 
tion, and a memorial of peace. It is to be a large free church at the 
nation's capital. Upwards of $20,000 have already been collected 
and expended in purchasing ground and erecting the Memorial 
Chapel. From $50,000 to 875,000 are yet needed to complete the 
work. Send contributions to Jay Cooke & Co., Treasurer, or to 
Rev. J. G. Butler. 



"^MT 



14 



. < " < * l I * ' l '' " 



COURAG ECUS THANKFULNESS. 



for you to fill — some service for you to render — something 
demanding consecration, the honest, earnest, and prayerful de- 
votion of your service to the Lord — not to the minister; he, 
too, is but a fellow-servant. It is your solemn duty and your 
honorable privilege to devote yourself to the service of your 
Redeeming Lord — to make some return to Him who bought 
you with His own blood. You are His, and not your own. 
He would have you serve Him and save your own soul. He 
asks a willing service. Your will only stands in the way of 
your salvation. Ye will not come to me that ye might have 
life. Your will finds excuse for every neglect of duty. There 
is a mighty power in willing to serve the Lord ! Who is 
willing ? And this day ! The Lord's work is to be done 
now — to-morrow's sun may shine upon your grave. 

" There is a time, we know not when, 
A point, we know not where, 
That marks the destiny of man, 
To glory or despair. 



There is a line, by us unseen, 
Which crosses every path ; 

The hidden boundary between 
God's patience and His wrath. 



From this review, beloved, we should abound with thank- 
fulness that God has at all honored our feeble instrumentality, 
and address ourselves courageously to the work yet before us — 
it is God's work. 

I earnestly call upon you who are yet in the service of sin to 
abandon it, and enter to-day upon the Lord's service. Upon 
you who have but a name to live, who have never addressed 
yourselves earnestly to the work of the Lord; upon you who 
have turned away from the truth, who have grown lukewarm 









COURAGEOUS THANKFULNESS. 15 

and cold, I call upon you to consecrate yourselves heartily to- 
day to the service of the Lord. If in aught we have sinned 
against each other — and what man is there who sinneth not — 
let us forgive and forget, and cultivate that charity which 
covers a multitude of sins. Life is too short for estrangement 
and strife, for worldliness and lukewarmness in the service of 
Christ. 

With the solemn memories of twenty years — memories of the 
dead and of the living; the scenes of joy and sorrow in which 
we have mingled ; with an uncertain future with its fearful 
responsibilities, and the coming judgment with its eternal 
awards, we have no time for aught save the great work with 
which our Lord has honored us — and to this by His Spirit 
may Pie now incline us. 



